Identity Crisis

What’s in a name?

I received a great email on Thursday; my cousin outside of Milan sent me scans of my great-grandfather and great-grandmother’s birth, death and marriage certificates. The physical documents establish the link that enables me to obtain Italian citizenship.

The problem is that my great grandfather, known as Dante Ghidinelli to everyone including his children, was born Prospero Ghidinelli. Even his tombstone in Italy has the name Dante on it. Depending on the consulate, they may require us to update all records to show his original Italian name. It’s a judgement call… if so, it means filing a legal name change document for a deceased relative. I can smell the red tape from here.

Some links I’ve come across recently that were helpful in figuring out how to establish a “No record” certification of non-existence from the National Archives. Filing a G-639 FOIA form is not completely straightforward when you’re trying to establish documents don’t exist:

this is the site Web of Avenone di Pertica Bassa (Brescia) Italy. Who has not never seen the country of the Flocchini, Ghidinelli, Bonomi, Pialorsi, etc. hour can see it on the situated one of the Bar Brescia.
I make excuses myself for the errors, I have used google translate.